The Department of Energy's National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. released this photograph Monday, Nov. 10, 2008, showing some of the 284 computer cabinets making up the lab's Jaguar supercomputer. (AP Photo/Oak Ridge Nat. Lab)

(Newser)
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A new Chinese supercomputer is the fastest in the world, able to perform mathematical operations much faster than the previous record-holder, a US system in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The system, Tianhe-1A, was recently subjected to the tests that serve as a benchmark for supercomputer rankings, reports the New York Times.

“We don’t close the books until Nov. 1, but I would say it is unlikely we will see a system that is faster,” says a scientist involved with the rankings. The achievement goes beyond national pride—these systems are used in calculations necessary for everything from defense research to finding oil reservoirs. "The US dominance in high-performance computing is at risk,” says an expert at Virginia Polytechnic. “One could argue that this hits the foundation of our economic future.”

blah blah...This does not mean China wins. The US has basically every other top supercomputer, and is currently building over a dozen new ones. Several are designed to reach 10 petaflops or more. This wasnt just about China. China did not go it alone. There were Americans working on the Tianhe-1A. Their supercomputer uses Intel CPUs and Nvidia GPUs. Intel and Nvidia are both American companies, and the innovation and sheer technological prowess that these companies have is still based in the US, even if China is the main manufacturer (which is due to dirt cheap labor, nothing else). I've noticed that nobody in all their fear mongering will mention that China's new supercomputer was built entirely with US-designed components